Medics say more than a million people sheltering in the southern Gaza city are at risk of being deprived of healthcare after the Israeli military began a "limited" operation against Hamas on Monday.
The largest of the city's three partially functioning hospitals, Abu Youssef al-Najjar, had to be abandoned the following day after staff received an evacuation order and there was fighting nearby. The hospital's dialysis department had been the only surviving one in Gaza.
The Israeli advance has also cut off access to the nearby European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, as well as the nearby Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings. With the Emirati maternity hospital in Rafah delivering dozens of babies each day, the Kuwaiti Specialist hospital is struggling to cope with a surge of emergency cases.
One doctor at the hospital, which before the war had only four intensive care beds, said the situation there was "catastrophic in every sense of the word". (BBC)
The UN General Assembly is expected to vote today on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine, and call on the Security Council to favourably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the UN.
The US has already vetoed a widely backed council resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal Israel has worked to prevent. The Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.
Under the UN Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a non-member observer state in 2012.
Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority. (AP)
Dominic Cummings has unveiled plans for a new “Start-Up Party” which he claims could replace the Conservatives. Speaking in his first interview since leaving Downing Street in 2020, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser said the new party could capitalise on the expected collapse in the Tory vote at the next general election.
He claimed a majority of the electorate would support a party that is “completely different” to Labour and the Tories.
“The Tories now obviously represent nothing except a continuation of the shitshow” said Cummings. “But Labour I think will not alter the ultimate trajectory very much, they’ll be continuity Treasury, continuity David Cameron, George Osborne, Sunak, so everyone will be even more miserable by 2026 than they are now.
He admitted that the ‘first past the post’ electoral system would make it difficult for a new party to break through, but insisted Nigel Farage’s expected return to frontline politics could irrevocably damage the Conservatives at the next election. (Telegraph)
Marco Rubio has emerged as a favourite of donors to become Donald Trump’s running mate, as the former president looks for candidates who can widen his appeal and help fund his White House campaign and legal bills.
The Florida senator was swarmed by donors at a Republican event at Mar-a-Lago last week during which Trump tried to gauge his audience’s reaction to a list of potential running mate. Rubio ran against Trump for the Republican party’s nomination in 2016. During that campaign, Trump dubbed him “Little Marco” and the men exchanged barbs about the size of Trump’s hands. Rubio has since backed Trump from the US Senate, where he is vice-chair of the intelligence committee.
Rubio is the latest high-profile Republican, alongside fellow US senators and JD Vance and Tim Scott, to gain favour among Trump allies ahead of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. (FT)
Xi Jinping had the red carpet rolled out for his meeting in Budapest with Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, a vocal supporter of warm relations with both China and Russia.
The two leaders pledged to elevate already-friendly relations to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership” — a sharp divergence from the view of China held by the European Union, as “a partner for cooperation, an economic competitor and a systemic rival.”
Orban, under fire from many fellow European leaders for pushing what he calls a “policy of peace” in Ukraine — effectively a demand that it capitulate — offered “special thanks” to Mr. Xi for “the steps that the People’s Republic of China is taking to create peace.”
The meeting sealed Orban’s long, steady transformation from an anti-communist liberal firebrand once funded by George Soros into one of the Chinese Communist Party leadership’s most fervent admirers. (NYT)
Senior British government officials have congratulated the newly appointed head of the Ugandan army, a man accused of torture, in a move that has been called “absurd” and “disappointing”.
Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s new chief of defence forces and son of President Yoweri Museveni, received a congratulatory letter from Britain’s most senior military officer, Adm Sir Tony Radakin.
Kainerugaba and Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, have been accused of torture and arbitrary arrests in the international criminal court. Uganda is a key western ally in Africa, and has received billions of pounds of security and development assistance from Britain and US.
Shortly after the meeting between Kainerugaba and the British envoys, the UK imposed sanctions on three Ugandan politicians, including the speaker of parliament, over corruption charges. The meeting between UK government officials and Kainerugaba may damage the global north’s reputation as standing up for human rights, according to activists. (Guardian)
Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink says part of an implant in its first human patient has malfunctioned.
The company completed its first implant of a device that connected to the brain of Noland Arbaugh, a paraplegic who lost use of his arms and legs in a diving accident, in January. Neuralink said some of the Link device’s “threads” had pulled away from the patient’s brain a few weeks after surgery which had rendered the device less effective. It is unclear how many threads had retracted from the patient’s brain.
Musk has said the technology will initially be intended for disabled patients, but that he eventually wants to market the brain chip to a mass audience. The company is seeking more patients for its clinical trials. (Times)